Alexander Zverev joked he was “s***ting my pants” about becoming the unlikely favourite to win the French Open.
The absence of Carlos Alcaraz due to injury and the second-round surprise knockout for Jannik Sinner meant the world No 3 suddenly became the favourite to win the tournament and he suggested that while he was cool on the outside, inside it was a different story.
The lack of a grand slam title had followed Zverev and following the departure of the Big Three, only for Carlos and Sinner to emerge, it seemed the German would be one of the many top players to slip through the net.
Instead, fortune went his way in Paris but he admitted he was “lying to everyone” by trying to play it cool.
“I was s***ting my pants for two weeks,” he joked with Andy Roddick on his Served podcast. “Sorry for the language.
“But no, it’s the truth. I mean, every single day in the press conference, somebody was asking me about it, and like, what do you expect me to say? I was like, you expect me to say yes? I’m nervous. I can’t sleep at night. I’m not eating.
“I was like, no, it doesn’t affect me. It’s, it’s fine. It’s just another tournament. Don’t win the French Open, probably kill myself. It’s the worst thing that could happen.
“So I was lying to everyone. I was lying to myself as well.”
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Zverev also revealed that it was Roddick who gave him some helpful advice last year with the former US player being in a similar position.
“We had a phone call for about probably an hour and a half in in December, where I talked to you about you being in a similar position where the only difference was you won the U.S. Open early on in your career, but you were in a similar position with obviously Rafa and and Roger throughout the later stage of your career.
“I was like, how do you deal with it? What do you do? How do you try to wait for your chances? And there was a clear path for me in my game. What I needed to improve to win a Grand Slam. There was a clear path for me be able to compete with those guys and beat them eventually.
“Of course I’m very happy that I did it at the French Open because, of course, at my age, I’m 29 years old. You don’t know if you’re ever going to get a chance again. You don’t know if you’re ever going to do it, and I’m happy that I did it.”
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